I Heart NY

I think it is safe for me to say that culture has always been and will always continue to be a major part of my life. Whether it is Rochester, NYC, Puerto Rico and the list goes on, there is always something happening and I say that I learn something new.

Recently I went to the Park Ave Fest here in Rochester. I had tons of fun. 30 minutes of us walking and my son fell asleep. It was a beautiful day cloudy but sunny if you know what I mean. Not too hot but humid and I think that just made it feel hotter. I saw a ton of great stuff, activities, and bands performing. I think that the highlight of that festival was going into the RIT Gallery. I have gone to the Park Ave festival several times but I have never been in the RIT Art Gallery on Park Ave my 6 years here in Rochester. There were so many wonderful pieces. We have so many RIT students and associated affliacted with this gallery. Very interesting and different from those displayed at the Beavier Art Gallery on RIT campus. Most of the piece in the RIT Art Gallery were up for sale and gave the community to own some of these pieces. All of them had there information and descriptions near the art pieces, most of them were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners. I think one of my favorite pieces was the 3D Water/Ocean piece. I don't remember the title to clearly. You can really see it much from the picture I took but it was awesome. They used an old matress, cut it open, and displayed some of the foam. It had a video display of water moving from up above the mattress. The way it hit the matress made the blue material look like water and waves. The yellow foam looked like sand has the tides brushed in and out to sea, and the srings looked rocks the water splashes on. They also had nature sounds of the beach which made is look so real. You should definietly stop by and check it out, it's FREE!

That same weekend was the Puerto Rican Festival in Rochester. It was bigger and better than most years. I attended after the Park Ave fest and the next day after to see a different performance. Saturday night we saw many different performances but the highlight was the great Tito Nieves. Great performance I must say, brought back the old days. Sunday was more performances and topped the whole weekend with the ledgendary Eddie "Juvia" Santiago. We just don't great Salsa music like we used to - the good old days when Salsa/Mambo was born in the heart of NYC. I loved observing the people who attended because there was a mix or old and new school alike together for once purpose, PRIDE.